We're thrilled to announce that the whistleblower of all whistleblowers – Daniel Ellsberg – will be a keynote speaker at HOPE X in New York City
this July.
Daniel Ellsberg was the cause of one of the biggest political controversies in the history of the United States when he released the Pentagon Papers in 1971. This top-secret Pentagon study of U.S. government decision-making concerning the Vietnam War was released to various newspapers. When the New York Times was stopped by a Nixon administration court order, Ellsberg leaked the 7,000 pages of documents to the Washington Post and 17 other publications. These revelations clearly showed deceptive practices by the government and played a significant role in changing the views of many Americans – and ultimately changing history.
Cost: $300; $250 if you've taken a Rheingold U course before; $500 if your company reimburses you.
In addition to the monetary cost, a commitment to participate is required. The real magic is in learning the meta-skill of forming a learning community with strangers around the world in just a few weeks. To get the most out of this experience, you will need to devote 2-3 hours a week to reading, writing, mindmapping. It's the equivalent of a graduate-level seminar.
Acclaimed Film “9/11 in the Academic Community” to be Live-Streamed March 27
Below is the Trailer Only. To see the whole film, mark your calendar.
The Northern California 9/11 Truth Alliance will be showing the critically acclaimed, recently released documentary, “9/11 in the Academic Community” on Thursday, March 27, 2014 at 7pm in Berkeley, California. The event can be viewed simultaneously online, via internet live-streaming from Pacifica affiliate, NoLiesRadio.org. For more information go to SF911Truth.org.
The film won the “Documentary Achievement” award at the University of Toronto Film Festival. It examines the academic community's rejection of any views regarding 9/11 which diverge from the official account. It points out that even academia’s most esteemed intellectuals on the Left have refused to seriously examine the substantial evidence contradicting the prevailing 9/11 Myth. It quotes Noam Chomsky: “… evidence about the perpetrators of 9/11 has been hard to find. … Nevertheless, despite the thin evidence … the initial conclusion about 9/11 is presumably correct.”
The film documents how the taboo against skepticism includes the 9/11 Commission Report. The film features Michael Truscello from Mount Royal University, Calgary, Canada, who points out that 25% of the footnotes to the 9/11 Commission Report were based on testimony obtained by torture, an astonishing fact, given the well-known unreliability of information obtained in this way.
In “9/11 in the Academic Community” academics reveal what it is like to experience the stigma, the social pressure, and the career repercussions of standing up for truth.
June 10-12, 2014 @ Massachusetts Institute of Technology
This interdisciplinary conference seeks to bring together researchers from a variety of fields relevant to understanding and designing collective intelligence of many types.
Topics of interest include but are not limited to:
Poverty and growing income inequality are on the national agenda. That’s partly thanks to Occupy Wall Street, partly tothe 50th anniversary of the War on Poverty, the fiscal crisis, and the current prospects of a jobless recovery due to automation and out-sourcing of jobs, as many Americans are struggling to pay our bills. Liberal Democrats want to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, and President Obama’s budget proposal would do that in a big way. Conservative Republicans, including Paul Ryan, are talking about reducing poverty by cutting and consolidating current programs to empower market-based solutions. With the two sides far apart, as usual, the forecast is continuing political paralysis.
Another option is basic income, and it’s gaining traction from both sides. The concept is simple, and actually updates ideas that a majority of Americans supported in the 1960. A version of this idea was nearly enacted.
[This coming Saturday 15 March] We have a unique opportunity to discuss these issues with Steven Shafarman, the author of several books on basic income and a member of the coordinating committee of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network. Steven is creating a presentation for us that will be lively and interactive.
Robert David STEELE Vivas is a former spy, honorary hacker, and the #1 Amazon reviewer for non-fiction, reading in 98 categories. As CEO of Earth Intelligence Network, he has led a team in creating concepts for restoring power to the public with public decision-support (intelligence), public budgeting, and a public Global Game.
He offers three kinds of presentations in English or Spanish:
Very formal “presidential” speeches with measured words and a specific focus, for example to the French Senate or the Chilean government (see Steele @ Chile)
Rousing “no holds barred” presentations in which no question is off-limits from JFK to 9/11 to ET, for social clubs and colleges (see Steele @ Hackers, Steele @ Gnomedex)
Click on Image to Enlarge
His largest audience to date has been 4,500 in number (Superintendent's Guest Lecturer, Naval Postgraduate School). His Q&A record is 8 hours and 1 minute, set at Hackers on Planet Earth in NYC in July 2010. He has spoken to the French Senate, to all NATO/PfP/MD flag officers for intelligence. and across 20 countries. He has personally mentored and trained over 7,500 international personnel in how to make informed decisions. Recently returned from Afghanistan, he understands our persistent incapacity to wage and win wars. Among his wide variety of presentation titles are:
America the Beautiful–What Went Wrong, Where Now?
Ask Me Anything–SPY IMPROV or Truth on Steroids
Global Reality–10 Threats, 12 Policies, 12 Countries Owning the Future
Hack the Earth–Holistic Analytics, True Cost Economics & Total Integrity
Intelligence–from Spies & Lies to Decision-Support with Integrity
Open Source Everthing–the Cultural, Financial, and Technical Revolution
Revolution USA–Understanding Washington's Betrayal of the Public Trust
His motto is “The truth at any cost lowers all other costs.” Since 1988, when he left the clandestine service to create the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity, he has been the most persistent published proponent for intelligence (decision-support) reform. He challenges conformist thinking and entrenched biases. He is the father of the third era of natonal intelligence, the era of the Smart Nation (and Smart Organization). Among his seminal short works are Intelligence for the President–AND Everyone Else (CounterPunch, 3 March 2009) and The Evolving Craft of Intelligence (Routledge Companion to Intelligence Studies, 2014).
In 2008, concerned about the corruption of the two–party bi-opoly, he published ELECTION 2008: Lipstick on the Pig. In 2012 he ran briefly for President, accepted as a candidate by the Reform Party, one of four disenfranchised parties blocked from the ballot–along with Independents. He did this for two reasons: to put the best apolitical ideas in one place, at We the People Reform Coalition; and to have a basis for challenging all the other Presidential candidates to come together in a universal demand for an Electoral Reform Act thtat would restore public sovereignty over the government. The story of that campaign is told in How I Tested the Boundaries of the Two-Party Tyranny (Reality Sandwich, 5 June 2012).
Whatever your interest, Robert will energize your group and nurture your good intentions. Robert will tailor a presentation to your precise needs.
PAGE TWO COLUMN ONE
Steele @ Gnomedex
Robert's official career since 1976 has included service as a Marine Corps infantry, intelligence, and S-1/Adjutant (personnel/security) officer. Transferring to the Central Intelligence Agency in 1979 he completed three consecutive overseas tours as a clandestine service operations officer under deep cover; and three tours at the national level in offensive counterintelligence, advanced satellite collection programming, and advanced information technology.
In 1988 he returned to the Marine Corps to serve as co-creator of the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity, at the time the USA's newest national intelligence analysis capability. In 1993 he resigned from the US Government to create OSS.Net and become the leading global advocate for Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), ultimately helping over 66 governments (and 7,500 officers individually) consider faster, better, and least expensive ways of achieving ethical evidence-based decision-support.
He has been featured in The Year in Computers, been twice-named to the Microtimes 100 (“industry leaders and unsung heroes who … helped shape the future”), and served as the inspiration for and central character in Alvin and Heidi Toffler's chapter on “The Future of the Spy” in War and Anti-War: Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century.
Steele @ IADB (OAS)
For decades he has worked to appreciate the thoughts of others–he is the #1 Amazon reviewer for non-fiction, reading in 98 categories. As CEO (pro bono) of Earth Intelligence Network, an accredited non-profit (501c3) he has led a team of 23 others in designing a practical architecture for a World Brain and Gobal Game. He promotes transparent truthful networks of trust for public policy making and budget decisions at all levels. His work in progress is INTELLIGENCE with INTEGRITY: Enabling Hybrid Public Governance with Open-Source Decision-Support.
PAGE TWO COLUMN TWO
Prior Praise for the World of Robert David STEELE Vivas
Robert Steele is unusual for an American…he is clearly internationalist in his orientation. He has written a book that can bring us together in facing our greatest enemies: ignorance, poverty, and mistrust.
Rear Admiral Hamit Gulemre Aybars, Turkish Navy (Retired)
Robert Steele’s vision for the future of intelligence is clearly “internationalist” in nature. It focuses on regional partnerships…and on the value of open source intelligence collection.
Rear Admiral Dr. Sigurd Hess, DE N(Ret), Former Chief of Staff, Allied Command Baltic Approaches
Constantly committed to truth and honesty, [his work] demonstrates his ability to grasp the real issues and to take into account the views and concerns of men of good will from all nations and all cultures.
Admiral Pierre Lacoste, French Navy (Ret), Former Director of Foreign Intelligence (DSGE)
Robert Steele goes well beyond the original visions of the best of the Directors of Central Intelligence, and has crafted a brilliant, sensible, and honorable future for the intelligence profession.
Major General Oleg Kalugin, KGB (Ret), former Elected Deputy to the Russian Parliament
Over a broad canvas reflecting the changing nature of information and information technologies, Robert Steele lays the foundation for the future of e-intelligence.
Commodore Patrick Tyrrell, OBE, Royal Navy, United Kingdom
Few have thought as deeply or imaginatively about such questions as a super-smart [now sixty-one]-year old former Marine and intelligence officer named Robert D. Steele…
Alvin & Heidi Toffler, War & Anti-War: Survival at the Dawn of the 21st Century
Steele consistently has been well ahead of the pack in his appreciation for everything from open source research to the implications of technology…his work thrills with its insights and ideas.
Ralph Peters, Fighting for the Future: Will America Triumph?
Robert Steele is about 100 times as smart and 10,000 times as dangerous as the best of the hackers, for he is successfully hacking the most challenging of bureaucracies…for the right reasons.
Bruce Sterling in Hacker Crackdown: Law and Order on the Electronic Frontier
Steele’s concept is simple: Empower the citizen and private sector to gather and analyze intelligence so that we can make informed decisions [using] Open Source Intelligence gathering [that] is faster, smarter, cheaper…
Robert Young Pelton, author, World’s Most Dangerous Places, producer, Come Back Alive
Robert Steele deserves our admiration and our focused attention for bringing the idea of open source information to the fore. His passion to serve the nation by developing this new approach…is exemplary.
Lieutenant General Patrick Hughes, U.S. Army (Retired)
Former Director, Defense Intelligence Agency
Robert Steele storms into the core of intelligence issues without fear. The scope of his work is impressive and whether you agree with him or not, you cannot ignore what he says.
The Honorable Richard Kerr
Former Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
CONTACT INFORMATION & LINKS:
Mail: 11005 Langton Arms Court, Oakton, VA 22124 Skype & Cell: By appointment via email. Email: robert.david.steele.vivas [at] gmail [dot]com
Primary Web Site: http://phibetaiota.net Non-Profit Site: http://www.earth-intelligence.net
I graduated from SAS in 1970 and have never lost my affection for Singapore. In 1995 I provided the National Computer Board (NCB) with the idea of a Smart Nation, and was thrilled to see the Prime Minister take an interest. Unfortunately,the approach to the national conference was to invite only those who could pay their expenses, which left Singapore listening to all of the “Total Information Awareness” snake oil vendors. What I see missing today in Singapore's approach, twenty years after I did my first intervention, is a focus on ethical evidence-based decision-support for Whole of Government strategy, policy, acquisition, and operations — four completely different domains that demand four completely different intelligence (decision-support) approaches. I love what Singapore does in strategic forecasting, but that appoach suffers from a sucking chest wound: it is passive. The proactive approach recognizes that Singapore is bracketed by three of the great demographic powers of the future — China, India, and Indonesia — and strives to create an Open Source Everything technical model that is affordable, inter-operable, and scalable, while also creating the gold standard in M4IS2 (multinational, multiagency, multidisciplinary, multidomain information-sharing and sense-making). The Multinational Decision Support Centre should be based in Singapore and co-funded by those great nations.That is, in my view, the missing bit. I do miss the Chile Crab!
Tradtional Speaker Topics with My Spin*
Books: Non-Fiction Reading – 98 Categories, an AHA Experience Change/Motivational: We failed. What now? Current Events: Ukraine in Reality – The Ugly Truth Current Events: Global Reality – the 80% We Are Ignoring For Students: Spies & Lies Rule – Unless You Wake Up! Futures:Why Forecasting is Wrong – Shape the Future with Intelligence Generational: Leveraging Bottom-Up Collective Intelligence Hackers: Ignore the Propaganda – Why They Matter Leadership/Management:Getting the truth on the table Moderator: Achieving Intelligence with Integrity Political: How I Tested the Two-Party Tyranny in the USA Process: Intelligence (Decision-Support) with Integrity (Coherence) – Missing in Action Team Building: Clarity, Diversity, Integrity & Sustainability Technology: Open Source Everything
* A major difference between standard speakers and me is that I do not do stump speeches — every presentation is unique to each audience, with prior preparation including requirements definition, tailored presentation, and then infinite Q&A. Everyone else is a specialist of sorts. I am a generalist in the purest, highest, sense of the term.